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The U.S. State Department intends to provide an additional $400,000 in support of aviation safety initiatives in the Caribbean region.

The intended funds are in addition to $800,000 the United States has granted the Caribbean for the same purpose through the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the past four years.

FAA administrator Marion Blakey announced the intended U.S. funding for the Caribbean during an August 2 speech in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Blakey spoke to a meeting of transportation ministers from the 15-nation bloc of Caribbean nations known as CARICOM.

Blakey said the U.S. funds have been used to provide technical and legal assistance, and for training and infrastructure improvements to help countries in the Caribbean maintain or achieve what is called Category I status regarding the safety of their aviation operations. Category I means a country’s civil aviation authority has been found by FAA to be licensing and overseeing their air carriers in accordance with aviation safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Countries with air carriers that fly to the United States must adhere to the safety standards of ICAO, the U.N. technical agency that establishes international standards and issues recommendations regarding aircraft operations and maintenance.

Carriers from countries with a lower Category II rating may continue existing operations into the United States but are subject to heightened FAA surveillance.

A State Department official said in an interview that the intended $400,000 for Caribbean aviation would come from economic support funds of the Third Border Initiative. That initiative, unveiled by President Bush at the 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, provides funding and training in the Caribbean for such programs as aviation safety, the fight against HIV/AIDS, disaster preparedness, and environmental management.

The official said the funds are designed to “standardize” regional civil aviation safety regulations in the Caribbean.

An FAA official added in an interview that Third Border Initiative money is for funding aviation-related infrastructure projects, which will produce a subsequent benefit for Caribbean countries trying to achieve a Category I status or have in fact achieved that status. But the FAA official stressed that the funds coming from the Third Border Initiative are not used “solely” for helping countries achieve the Category I safety rating.

The FAA’s Blakey paid tribute to those countries at the Port of Spain meeting that have achieved the Category I status.

These countries, she said, “are in full compliance with international safety standards, joining some 100 countries and regional safety alliances that have oversight responsibility for close to 600 air operators that operate in U.S. airspace.” Blakey added that other nations at the meeting in Trinidad and Tobago were “working hard” toward the Category I status as well, “and I commend them for their efforts.”

Blakey said that since 1997, the FAA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, has “proudly worked with countries in the Caribbean region to improve civil aviation.” Her agency, she said, “will continue to stand with the Caribbean Community, as partners, and as friends. Because we’re all striving for the same goals — a safe, thriving air transportation system, and prosperity for the Caribbean, and for the world.”

The FAA administrator also invited the Caribbean officials to the agency’s third annual International Aviation Safety Forum, being held in Washington from November 1-3. At that forum, government regulators and aviation leaders from around the world will meet to discuss global air transportation safety issues.

Information on the November International Aviation Safety Forum and the full text of Blakey’s remarks in Port of Spain are available at the FAA Web site.

American Airlines could soon be facing intense pressure to freeze its pension plans, under a bill approved last week by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The measure, which still must be passed by the U.S. Senate, would grant American some relief from its pension obligations, which are currently costing the airlines hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

But it would give bankrupt rivals Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines even greater relief, handing them a significant financial advantage.

“It’s really a double standard,” said airline analyst Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research in San Francisco. “You have to ask if it’s fair to penalize airlines who have run their businesses better and stayed out of bankruptcy.”

American officials declined to comment on the bill, saying that the situation remains fluid and could change as the Senate considers the measure this week.

But American’s interest in pension reform is acute. The airline could be in an even more difficult position if a pension reform bill fails to pass, because it potentially faces having to pay more than $1 billion into the plan next year.

“This is a very complicated, very important issue for American Airlines and its employees,” said Gregg Overman, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, the union that represents American’s pilots.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters Monday that he was concerned about the bill, which on the Senate side is included in a larger tax package.

“The pension part of it (the tax package) treats airlines that have avoided bankruptcy disadvantageously, primarily Continental and American Airlines of Texas, and helps those who have declared bankruptcy,” he said.

That “just goes to prove that in Washington, if you’re not careful, no good deed goes unpunished,” he said.

Cornyn said he hasn’t decided whether the pension issue is enough to cause him to vote against the entire tax package.

American, like other airlines and large companies, is facing a substantial shortfall in the funding of its pension plans. Depending on how it’s accounted, the shortfall is either $2.3 billion or $3.2 billion, according to the airline.

American has kept its pension plans intact despite its financial squeeze in recent years, as did Houston-based Continental Airlines.

Other carriers, including Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, have frozen their plans. That means they will pay employee benefits that have already been earned, but will no longer allow workers to accrue retirement allowances.

Employees at those airlines have been shifted to defined contribution programs, like 401(k) plans.

United Airlines and US Airways, which have both emerged from bankruptcy, terminated their plans entirely, handing them over to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. to administer.

In 2004, Congress granted the airlines a two-year respite from having to pay off the shortfall. But that window expires at the end of this year, and if pension rules aren’t revised, American will be forced to fund some of its obligation next year.

It is unclear exactly how much of the shortfall will have to be paid next year. American has built up a cash cushion of more than $5 billion, which could be tapped if necessary.

Still, funding the plans would mean a significant financial hit on a company that is struggling to return to profitability after losing nearly $8 billion since 2000.

That’s why the airline has been lobbying heavily for pension reform that lessens the pension crunch. American has pushed lawmakers to allow it and other airlines to pay off the pension obligations over a long span, and proposed an extension as long as 25 years.

The measure approved by the House last week provides a degree of relief, allowing American and Continental to fund their pension programs over 10 years.

But the law grants Northwest and Delta a 17-year window, and also gives them a cheaper rate to determine their total obligation.

American and Continental could get the same benefit if they freeze their plans before December 2007, according to airline analyst Jamie Baker of J.P. Morgan Securities.

Baker predicts that if the law passes, American will ask its employees to freeze the plan. Under union contracts, workers must approve any changes to the pensions. American’s contracts expire in 2008.

“This implies (American) management must seize the next 17 months to bring labor to the table prematurely, and sell the need for pension parity,” Baker said in an investment report Monday.

That has union officials worried.

“American doesn’t have its hand out,” said Lori Bassani, a spokeswoman with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents the company’s attendants. “It is critical in our industry that the competitive playing field remain as level and equitable as possible when it comes to government assistance.”

Overman of the pilots’ union said maintaining the pension is a crucial issue for that work group. The pilots’ approval of concessions in 2003 “was predicated on the notion of preserving the pension,” he said.

Analyst Harteveldt said the next few days could be key. The Senate breaks for its August recess at the end of the week.

“Ultimately,” he said, “this will probably all come down to who has the better lobbyists.”